I’ve been toying with the idea of entering Matty’s Oscar competition for a while now, considering first one film and then another but nothing seemed right. Then I started listening to the Hunchback of Notre Dame audio book on my phone.

So without any further ado I would like to present my take on Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The robes of Volatile Power have always exercised a strange fascination over me, partly because back in Vanilla they were the source of so many arguments. So whilst rummaging around the Molten Core in pursuit of pets, I was happy to come across them lying on a corpse.

Now Sprout hasn’t had a proper transmogrification since MoP hit so I had great fun breaking out MogIt again and playing around.

Wrestling – We’re going to deviate from olympic wrestling and go to the sports entertainment aspect instead. Using one of the “championship” belts, design your own Azerothian pro wrestler. Think of the oversized belts, such as the Firemend Cinch.

Freestyle – Build your own NPC.

However as with every competition, everyone needed a faction (or country) to represent and these are drawn at random. I drew the flag of the Kirin Tor and will be endeavouring to do the Mages proud. A list of whom everyone else is representing can be found here. There is also room for lots more people to join in the fun, so come on, sign up today.

Here is Sprout, my standard bearer, all dressed up like she’s about to sneak into one of those secret Mage only parties they throw in the Purple Parlour giving it laldy* for the Kirin Tor. I am actually tempted to farm this and hang out in Dalaran talking to Bitty Frostflinger

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The other categories won’t be shown here as they will be submitted to the judges anonymously.

*There are two Scots slang words I happen to like a lot, Laldy which mostly means to do something with gusto, to put a lot of effort in and Peely-wally which is one of my best friend’s favourite all time words and means to look off-colour, to be pale.

The last beta patch saw the addition of updated graphics for a lot of the cloth items. Sprout went from wearing this:

to this:

over night. This is the Silkmaster’s set which you get from questing. Whilst I’m not 100 percent convinced about the whole outfit, I do love that teal colour combined with the bright pink gem stones in the shoulders.

Continuing on with the same theme, I’ve also come across this:

Then there is this set which again turns up in multiple colour variations.

So far I’ve seen the helm in this blue and also a bright shade of green.

Same hat, different angle.

There is also this version of the dress but I haven’t seen a hat or shoulders which match it yet.

I’m definitely looking forward to having a whole new set of designs and colours to play Transmogrification with come MoP.

Cymre has been doing an awesome series on Fairytale heroines and transmogrification. I particularly love her Little Red Riding Hood and her Sleeping Beauty. However heroines just aren’t my thing, poisoned apples and gingerbread houses… well that’s a different story.

When I was in my last year of primary school, we were putting on some sort of fairytale production and I desperately wanted to be the heroine. However as my teacher pointed out as I sprawled on the floor, my long legs splayed out and my knees covered in scabs and bruises, dainty I wasn’t. True to form, the part of the fairy princess went to some tiny blonde thing with hair like golden candyfloss. I was offered either Prince Charming and to be fair, the thought of swords, boots and britches almost sold it or that of the Wicked Witch. In the end being bad won out, better dialogue, more cackling and a broomstick.

Throughout High School and University, I never got to play the heroine (unless you count the Virgin Mary in countless Navitity plays) but I racked up plenty of villains and the odd male character.

So like Shakespeare’s Richard III,

I am determined to prove a villain,And hate the idle pleasures of these days.

My Mage and I would like to present the perfect outfit for running around Azeroth setting evil (flying) monkeys on the citizens of Azeroth. Broomsticks are optional as is a deranged cackle.

I remember the day I fell in love with Ray Bradbury as if it were yesterday. I was eight years old, sitting in my old school gym wishing the minute hand on the clock would move just that little bit faster. The last day before the holidays was always a bit of free for all, no classes were taught and we just sat around watching movies. Until that particularly moment, I always thought it was a waste of time. If they weren’t going to teach us anything, why couldn’t we have an extra day off. I have a vague memory of the first film we watched being about a child who drowned in well (cheerful material for a bunch of 8 to 10 years) but I don’t know it’s name or anything else about it. The second, however, well that was “Something Wicked This Way Comes”, the adaptation of Bradbury’s book of the same name.

By the time the credits rolled, I was hooked and ever so slightly terrified. The next day was the start of our Easter Holidays and my family went to Goslar in the Harz mountains for a week. We were staying in this beautiful little guest house but there was one snag, a massive crack ran across the ceiling in my bedroom. I’m not sure I slept all week for fear that an army of spiders would come marching out of said crack and eat me alive. My parents had to keep bribing me with icecream, a wooden carved witch (which I still have) and books without spiders, as they dragged me through museums, art galleries and historic buildings.

So when the Darkmoon Faire got it’s revamp, I was nervously excited. All those childhood memories came flooding back and I could still see that ceiling crack, vivid black against the peeling white paint. I knew I wanted a Darkmoon Balloon as a mini-pet to serve as a constant reminder of my childhood fears and my love of Bradbury.

Then to go with my balloon, I decided to create a matching outfit.

I’m not 100 percent happy with the helm but I wanted something that wouldn’t hide her green hair.

Not using any yellow was a deliberate choice, although I did consider using the Watcher’s Cap (green witchy hat with a yellow band) as a way of adding a subtle yellow streak. In the end though, I think sticking with just purple and green works better.

Looking back, I find it telling that a film which I think involved ghosts and a dead girl in a well had no effect on me whatsoever whilst Something Wicked This Way Comes haunted my dreams for many a night. Since then, I’ve read everything of Bradbury’s I’ve ever managed to lay my hands on.